James Edward Heath Way (Queens)
Present name:None
Location:At the intersection of 114th Street and 34th Avenue
Honoree: James Edward Heath (1926-2020) was born into a musical family in Philadelphia. His father, an auto mechanic, played the clarinet, performing on the weekends. His mother sang in a church choir. His sister Elizabeth played piano; his older brother Percy, Jr. played violin and bass; and his younger brother Albert “Tootie” Heath played the drums. As a teenager, Heath took music lessons and played the alto saxophone in the high school marching band and also played in a jazz band. Small in stature (standing 5'3"), he was under the weight limit to serve in World War II. In 1946, he formed his own band, a fixture on the Philadelphia jazz scene until 1949. Heath's earliest big band (1947-1948) in Philadelphia included John Coltrane, Benny Golson, Ray Bryant, Specs Wright, Cal Massey, Johnny Coles, and Nelson Boyd. Charlie Parker and Max Roach sat in on occasion. In 1959, Heath briefly joined Miles Davis's group, replacing John Coltrane, and also worked with Kenny Dorham and Gil Evans. Heath recorded extensively as leader and sideman. In the 1960s, he frequently worked with Milt Jackson and Art Farmer. In the early 1960s, encouraged by friends Clark Terry and the Adderley brothers, Heath and his wife Mona tbought an apartment in the Dorie Miller Cooperative in Corona, where the Adderleys and Terry also lived. In 1987, he became a professor at the Aaron Copland School Of Music at Queens College. There, he premiered his first symphonic work, Three Ears, with Maurice Peress. His autobiography, I Walked With Giants, was published in 2010. . He recorded three big band records, Little Man Big Band produced by Bill Cosby, Turn Up The Heath and Togetherness Live at the Blue Note. Heath was nominated for three Grammy Awards and was the first jazz musician to receive an honorary doctorate in music from the Juilliard School. (Moya)
LL:2022/54